i8 Surgical Diseases and Surgery of the Dog 



NARCOTICS. HYPNOTICS. 



Morphine and Chloretone are very useful narcotic and hyp- 

 notic agents in canine practice. With full somnific doses of the 

 former, hypodermically injected, most dogs can be rendered indif- 

 ferent to minor operations, but with few exceptions it is rarely pos- 

 sible to obtain complete anesthesia with loss of reflexes. It is a 

 very valuable agent in controlling fractious animals either for exam- 

 ination or operation. It speedily produces a contented frame of 

 mind which enables a complete stranger to safely proceed with ex- 

 amination. Subcutaneous injection of somnific doses causes a slight 

 and sometimes irritant swelling at the point of injection which, how- 

 ever, quickly subsides. In from three to ten minutes weakness of the 

 hind quarters, restlessness and salivation develop. Nausea and vom- 

 iting frequently occur and less often evacuation of the bowels. On 

 this account the practitioner should never -administer the drug in 

 rooms where carpets or rugs might be damaged. In some thirty 

 minutes a light slumber is induced from which the animal can be 

 awakened without much difficulty. The somnolence lasts five or six 

 hours and the after-effects persist ten to twenty-four hours. Ac- 

 cording to Guinard, who studied the action of this drug experimen- 

 tally, a safe hypodermic somnific dose for mature animals is one- 

 twelfth of a grain per pound bodyweight, while half a grain per 

 pound bodyweight is lethal. In other hands one-seventh of a grain 

 per pound bodyweight has proven lethal. Guinard found puppies 

 much more susceptible and that their death might be produced by 

 one-seventy-fifth to one-twentieth grain per pound bodyweight. 



Chloretone may be given in dose sufficient to entirely abolish 

 nervous reflexes. For this the dose must be one and one-half grains 

 per pound bodyweight. Less than that amount will produce but 

 partial anesthesia, and is not sufficient to prevent the dog from howl- 

 ing. Two grains per pound bodyweight is dangerous and two and 

 one-quarter grains is generally fatal. The drug should be given in 

 large capsules, or better still, in konseals as the latter dissolve 

 quicker, or it may be dissolved in whiskey or sherry wine. It is only 

 sparingly soluble in water. An animal that has received a full 

 dose of this drug is slow to recover its senses and equilibrium. 



Given as a general anesthetic, chloretone acts on the central 

 nervous system, but unless given in poisonous dose does not depress 

 the circulatory system. Besides its central action, it possesses local 



